I don't have any literature references, but this is how I imagine most
small birds roost at night, particularly ones which have group socialising
behaviour, as with sittellas.
Even in tropical climates, small birds need to conserve heat, and a clump
of small birds is more difficult for nocturnal predators to attack
successfully in the night, than a single bird.
In colder climates, small birds will need to cluster in hollows or in some
sort of shelter to conserve heat more efficiently.
John Leonard
On 13/09/2009 11:54pm, Gary Wright <> wrote:
Near Djarindjin on Dampier peninsula near Broome, I saw some behaviour
from
sitellas I had never seen before tonight. A group of six or seven sitellas
came into a tree at about 5 pm. 3 or 4 at a time sat very close together
just like white breasted woodswallows do, but the actual sittellas
involved
changed over. As each new one would come along, the birds would do a loop
around the branch they were sitting on and often the new bird would end up
in the middle of the others. I didn't stay until dark, but the sun was
very low in the sky. I have never seen sitellas sit still before (except
once when sitting horizontal along a branch when a raptor went over) let
alone engage in this behaviour.
Has anyone seen this before? Is this sitella roosting behaviour?
Gary
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